PORTLAND, Maine — A woman chained to a wall is ogled by a gruesome, shirtless man. Above, a scantily clad damsel in distress is lowered into a vat of bubbling liquid.
“This is pure joy to me,” said Scott Nash, chair of the illustration department at Maine College of Art, surrounded by bright, graphic and macabre paintings at the Portland Public Library’s Lewis Gallery.
Nash helped bring the largest collection of pulp cover art, painted in the 1930s and 40s, to Portland for the show, The Pulps, which opens here Friday.
On loan from the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut, the original covers of these cheaply produced, 10-cent novels, are a window into an early form of pop culture that is still celebrated today.
The show offers a rare view of this cheap and popular literature created and consumed for escapism that has influenced modern-day artists like Quentin Tarantino.
A character like The Shadow appears with a gun to break up a crime ring; detective novels depict well-dressed women in compromising positions. In others, women are strapped to horses, brandishing guns or fleeing from menacing corpses.
Nash sees antecedents to televisions shows such as “Breaking Bad,” “Deadwood” and “Six Feet Under” with every painting.
“These shows are the legacy to pulp fiction,” said Nash, pointing out “the noble hero and the evil villain” in each.
The show juxtaposes the original and much larger paintings commissioned for the covers with the magazine or book where it appeared. Some are “12 stories for 10 cents” rags, some are detective books, others “spicy Westerns.” All have something hyperbolic going on and something to teach us, says Nash.
“We are looking for exhibitions about illustration on its own terms. Illustration is a narrative art form, every one of these pictures is a story,” said Nash, who also illustrates and writes children’s books.
MECA students uncrating the pieces for The Pulps, which runs through December 26, were impressed with the bounty.
“This is a giant collection. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Cecil Cates, an illustration major marveling at the way paint was applied. “It’s the composition, it’s the colors. These are nearly 100 years old.”
An art show that connects people to literature makes sense for the public downtown venue said library program director Rachael Weyand. “Our goal is to give people access to the written word. This is a window into a certain era showing what people read.”
To Nash, being able to show his students vivid and even garish scenes dashed off for covers of throw-away books, writ large, fosters the craft.
“The experience for these students is palpable. It’s connecting them to their history. They feel a tangible connection to the artwork.”
Last year MECA and Portland Public Library co-sponsored a show on children’s book author Maurice Sendak here, now the racier pulps get their due.
“We are always trolling around for traveling shows that seem interesting,” said Nash. “These are very direct and visceral.”
The Pulps is free and open to the public. An opening reception is Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.. Portland Public Library, 5 Monument Square, Portland.
